The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-12-13
Among the Pines of Geo rgia.


Summer time, owing to the quantity Oh
brushwood one encounters almost
evervwhere. as well as to the obstruc-
tons offered to ready progress by
tracts of burned or broken lands, the
forests of the interior of Georgia offer
A pleasing change, especially during
the mild and agreeable Southern Win
ter. Here are to be found no cradle
knots. no broken ground, no burned.
and no underbrush, for miles and
miles, nothing but lofty pines, standing
so far apart that one can drive Tor
hours among them, seated in buggy
drawn by pair of horses, making on
ly an occasional detour to avoid few
square rods of scrub oak or some
blown-down tree. One of the latter,
which was measured was los feet
long, while the first limb was seventy
one feet from the root. There were
many trees at this time around, which
certainly attained height OF not less
than 120 feet.
The surface OF the country for sixty
miles was as smooth as the streets OF
any city. 1t was not level, but gently
rolling. The streams by which it was
intersected often had banks from fifty
to sixty feet in height These were
not abrupt but with n steep slope.
Sometimes there were flats along 9th
er shores on which magnolias oaks,
bays and other evergreens grew in the
greatest abundance. In the early
Spring these shores are fragrant with
the perfume of the yellow jessamine,
which grows abundantly all over this
country, while here and there, about
the small round ponds scattered
through these forests, the lilac flowers
of the redbud mingle their blossoms
with the white bloom of the May-haw.
and here may be seen our robins, rs
well us the turtle dove which abonnds
in these woods, as does the Southern
partridge or quail. The brilliant cardi-
nal bird and the gay blue Bird with
robe of deepest cobalt may be seen
also. fitting from bough to bough.
One may Judge of the genial charac-
ter of this climate from the fact that
near Flint River peach trees were in
blossom on the 4th of February, while
in some gardens on the 9TH OF that
month peas were already above ground.
On the 9TH ionquils were IN full Hover,
and strawberries were in blossom.
What adds much to the pleasure OF
travelling among tho pines OF this part
of Georgia, is the absence OF mosquitoes
and black flies
The Georgian pine is in general
much larger and of better quality than
that of Florida. On the lint River the
soil is very different from the white
sands of Florida, into which the wheels
of ones cart sink deeply, forbidding
rapid rate of progress. Through the
pine woods. the dark gray, sandy soil
is firm everywhere; the only benefit OF
the highway is that it leads to bridges
by which streams can be crossed, and
avoids the occasional fallen trees
(which the traveller now and then en-
counters A good road could be found
anywhere among the pines.
The Southern pine does not grow so
thckly on the same extent of territory
as does the white pine of the West,
where il is no very uncommon thing 10
find forty acre lot yielding a million
feet (broad measurc) of this lumber.
In the West one track may be thiokly
timbered with white pine. while there
may be next to none on the adjoining
lot The Southern pine, on the contra
ry. although not found growing thickly
in any one place, is yet far more gen.
orally distributed over an equal area OF
ground than its Western relative.
Southern pine lands also possess
great advantage over many others in
this, that fires will not destroy them.
even when the wire grass, which grows
beneath the trees, is burned every
Spring, so that the tender growth may
afford better nourishment to the sheep
and cattle that wander the forests Be-
sides this, when the pines have been
cut down. especially on the Lime Sink
region of Georgia, the land, which is
free from stones, can. with the aid OF
fertilizers. be made TO yield magnificent
crops OF cotton, Indian corn, melons or
other vegetables or fruit. and peach.
pomegranate or fig trees will flourish